Did A 2009 Video Game Foresee The Current Island Conflict?

Here is the cinematic intro to Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, a tactical shooter game released in October 2009. In it, an island originally owned by the Chinese, called Skira, is jointly colonized by Russia and Japan through military force in the 17th and early-18th centuries. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan gains the entire island, then loses it back to Russia following World War II. Sometime during the Cold War, oil is discovered on this volcanic island but is “hard to reach.” After the Cold War ends, Russia and the US become bound by certain treaty arrangements related to Skira. In 2004, a “massive Chinese economic boom” depletes the country’s domestic reserves of oil, and after the global economic crisis of 2008, Chinese leadership destabilizes as the people gravitate toward hardliners. In 2011, China mobilizes its forces toward Russia, closer to Skira Island. Russia responds. And then, the PLA takes Skira, claiming “original ownership.” The trailer ends with the US sending forces to the Sea of Japan.

Swap out Russia for Japan, and does any of this sound familiar?

The connection was made by Reddit user XADE101, and if nothing else, it makes me want to play the game. I’m sure the Bo Xilai scandal is tied into Operation Flashpoint’s storyline somehow. You know what they say: reality imitates first-person shooters. Youku video for those in China after the jump. (Update, 12:53 pm: The video was up for a good hour-plus before censors removed it. I wonder which senior censor figured out the connection.)